LifeLink Devotions for Monday, March 18, 2024

Have you ever started an exercise program with good intentions of reaching a goal, but then quit before reaching the goal? I’ve done it too many times. 

Each of us has areas in our lives where we have been hindered from accomplishing a well-intentioned goal. How we respond to that hindrance is an indication of how strongly we believe in the goal. Ouch! That hurts, doesn’t it? When we reflect on our lives and all the things we failed to finish, we realize that we have convinced ourselves that they really weren’t that significant after all. That’s the only way we can live with ourselves and dampen the guilt and shame we would otherwise feel. At the time we set the goal it was significant, but we allow hindrances and our inability to persevere to redefine the importance of the goal. If we really stop to think about it, we’re not too happy with ourselves for falling into that pattern.

The solution begins with our true beliefs about what is significant. We get emotionally motivated over many things, but how many of them are finished? The difference between goals that are met and goals that are dropped is not found in the significance of the goal or in the deterrents to reaching the goal, but in the heart of each one of us. We can redefine the significance of the goals and we can blame the hindrances that occur, but in the final analysis the real reason we gave up on the goal was because we changed our minds about its importance. We stopped believing in it. If we are going to be persevering people, then we must be consistent in our belief that the goal is worth any effort.

In our Christian walk with Jesus, there are huge hindrances. We are bombarded every day with cultural messages to fix our eyes on personal pleasure, performance, and protection from rejection. The sin of pride easily entangles us. The benefits and urgency of the immediate redefine the significance of the eternal. We are tempted daily to believe that what we can have from the world now is of far greater importance than what we can have from God later. But let the words of the author of Hebrews sink in.

Hebrews 12:1-3 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” 

God has set a goal in front of us. It is waiting at the finish line of life. It is the same goal that Jesus had set before Him. That goal is joy – the joy of being accepted into the presence of our Heavenly Father knowing that we persevered and overcame all obstacles so that our lives would reflect His glory. It is the joy of hearing Him personally and intimately say to us, “Well done. You are a good and faithful servant.”  It is the joy of receiving from the Father the full inheritance prepared for us with all the saints in glory. The Apostle Paul says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18) So throw off all of the hindrances and untangle yourself from the sins that have held you back, and run the race with perseverance. Run with all your heart. Don’t give up. Fix your eyes on the finish line where Jesus is waiting to give you your crown of glory. 

Pastor John